Method of producing wire-glass.



PATENTED FEB. 19

V J. I. ARBOGAST. METHOD OF PRODUCING WIRE GLASS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.26.1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED FEB. 19, 1907,

J. I. ARBOGAST. METHOD OF PRODUCING WIRE GLASS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 26. 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I I HI ILH IH H I I I III.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN I. ARBOGAST, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO LEM S. BROOK, OF BEAVER, PENNSYLVANIA, AND SEVEi AND ONE-HALF ONE-IIUNDREDTHS TO FRANK PARK, AND SEVEN [AND HENRY L. COLLINS, BOTH. OF PITTS- METHOD OF PRODUCING WIRE-GLASS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 19, 1907.

Application filed April 26. 1906. Serial No 313,741.

To all, Hill/07771 it 7771([1/ concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN I. ARBOGAST, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Alle- 5 gheny and State OfPennsyIvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Producing VVire-Glass, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying draw- 1ngs.

The invention relates to methods of producing wire-glass or glass having a reinforcin element of wire mesh embedded therein. e'retofore in the production of wire-glass r 5 ithas been the practice to pour a layer of molten glass upon an iron table, then apply, a section of wire mesh to the upper surface of said glass layer, and finally to pour a second layer of glass upon the section of wire mesh. The composite thus formed is then annealed in asuitable oven, and after cooling is ground and polished. This last-named steps in the prccessis laborious and expensive; and the primary object of the present invention is to 2 5 provide a method which will entirely obviate the necessity of such grinding and polishing, and thus materially reduce the cost of production of Wire-glass.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel method of producing wire-glass by. heating sheets of glass with an interpcsezl layer ofwire mesh or fabric in such a manner as to avoid all pressure upon the heated layers and to preserve the original polish of 3 5 the glass, thereby avoiding the necessity for grinding and polishing the cooled product as a separate operation.

Incarrying out my invention I utilize ordinary windowlass instead of molten glass, 4c and the metho consists of assembling two layers or sheets of glass with an interposed layer of wire mesh or netting, then subjecting said assembled layers to a 'radually-increasing heat, then to an annea ing heat to cause the glass sheets to collapse and amalgamate by their own weight, and finally subjecting the layers to a radually-decreasing heat to insure agraduaI-coolin and thus maintain the original polish of the glass in the completed product. g

In connection with my improved method I employ an amalgamating and annealing oven l of peculiar construction, as shown in the accomp anying drawings, in wh. ich

Figure 1 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section. Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of one of a series of pans employe'l in connection with the oven. Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing two sections or layers of glass with an interposed layer of wire mesh as they appear previous to treatment within the oven. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the completed product on a smaller scale than that shown in F ig. 3. Fig. 5 is a transversevertical section of the oven, and Fi 6 is a transverse horizontal section on the line a: w of Fig. 5.

The rference-numerals 1 and 2 designate the opposite side walls of the furnace, and 3 the roof thereof. The space between the side walls 1 and 2 has a filling 4 of earth, the upper surface 5 of which constitutes the furnace-flocr.

While of course the dimensions of the oven structure may bevaried, I have found an oven approxiirately one hundred and ten feet'in length is desirable, and the central portion of this structure, approxinately twenty feet in length, I utilize as the working or heating chamber of the oven. A series of vertically-disposed fines 6 are provided on opposites sides of the oven, said fires having suitable connectio'ns'with gas-supply pipes 7, located on opposite sides of the oven, as clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 6". At suitable intervals between the upper ends of the flies. 6 I provide openings 8 to porn it of the insertion intothe working chamber of the oven of suitable flattening tools or rollers, if this is found desirable. 'Ihese openings on opposite sides of the working chamber are arranged in staggered relation or out of vertical alinenient, and each of said openings is provided with a suitable door or closure.

To the inner surface of each ofthe side walls 1 and 2 is secured an angle-plate 9, eX- tending longitudinally throughout the length of the oven and oppositely arranged, as shown in Fig. 5, to serve as a support a traclcway for a series of rectangular pans 10,

adapted to contain the layers of glass and wire mesh. These pansare all similar in construction, and each 1s pr vided atone side with a pair of pro ecting perforated thereof is a tr'ackway 14, or what is technically known in the art as a telegraph, fromwhich is suspended a traveling fork or grapor crizzles in the cooled ple 15, adapted to engage the pans after the latter are emptied and return them to the front end of the oven. Within each of the pans 10 is supported a flattening-stone 16, said stones being of a size to snugly fit within the pans, and upon each of said stones is loosely supported a rectangular frame 17, adapted to inclose the layers of glass. and wire mesh and maintain them in their proper relative positions.

Below the angle-irons 9 I provide at suitable intervals apart a number of roller-shafts 18, said shafts being supported in suitable bearings in the side walls of the oven and carrying a plurality of rollers 19, over which the pans travel. At the rear end of the oven I provide a device for moving the chain of connected pans through the oven, the device here shown comprising a shaft 20, having a crank-handle 21 at one end thereof, a suit able chain 22 being wound upon the shaft 20 and adapted to engage the pins 13 of the outermost pan.

Wire-glass manufactured in accordance with my improved method is especially adapted for windows, tiling, and like purposes.

My improved method is distinguished from pressing two sheets of glass with an interposed wire between metallic plates while the glass is in a molten state. This pressure of the glass within a mold wo *ld not only destroy the polish of the glass, which it is the primary object of my method to preserve, but molten" glass cooled within a mold or under pressure would inevitably produce cracks product, which would render the latter unmarketable.

My improved method is further distinguished from the mold-pressure method of treating glass above referred to by the fact that my method of heating the assembled layers of glass, and wiremesh involves three distinct, steps, viz: a gradual preliminary heating, anannealing heating, and' 'a gradual cooling. -These' several steps are carried out' in a single furnacefand they result ina prodnot of superior quality free from crizzles and in which the polish of the, glass is so maintained as to obviate. the expensiveafter treatment of polishing and grinding, which renders the production of wire-glass by the process now in use so expensive.

. An important characteristic of my im-.

proved method is that the individuality of thelayers of glass is maintained throughout .bled layers of glass and the heating and amalgamating treatment, the wire mesh maintaining its position between the layers the meeting surfaces of which are fused together.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The. herein-described method of producing wire-glass-consisting' of placing a plate or sheet of .glass glass and prevent spreading of the edges thereof, placing a section or layer of wire mesh or netting upon said'plate or sheet of glass, superimposing a second plate or sheet of glass upon said mesh or netting, then passing the assembled layers of glass and netting through an amalgamating and annealing oven to fuse the meeting surfaces of the glass layers together without destroying the surface lluster of the glass layers.

2. The herein-described method of producing wire-glass, consisting in subjecting. two sheets of polished glass with a layer of wire mesh or nettingbetween them to treat-f,

ment within a furnace to amalgamate the sheets of glass and to preserve their original polish, consisting of first passing the assemwire mesh by mechanical means. through a chamber of the furnace to gradually heat the said layers to the fusing-point while maintaining their individuality and their transparent quality, then mechanically advancing the layers. into a second chamber of the furnace tov subject them to an annealing heat,"and finally mechanically passing the layers through a third chamber of the furnace to gradually cool the same.

3. The method of making wire-glass, which consists in assembling two layers of glass with an interposed layer of wire mesh, then subjecting the assembled glass, and wire mesh to a gradually-increasing temperawithin a suitable frame upon a flattening-stone to confine the ture sufficient to fuse the glass together While ter, and then subjecting the amalgamated product to an annealing heat.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in the resence of two Witnesses. i H JOHN I. ARBOGAST'.

Witnesses:

', .H. C; EVERT, E. E. Po'rrnn. 

